Any time is a good time to get together and ...

make bears!

HOLIDAY/CHARITY/BIRTHDAY/VALENTINE'S DAY or whatever

GIFT MAKING PARTY

Any time of the year is a good time to get all of your creative (and even not so creative) friends together to make gift bears for whatever occasions/events you have coming up! Share your ideas and your talents and create more efficiently as a group. Time is so limited during and before any of the holidays or birthdays or charity events or bazaars, craft fairs etc., so why not make your preparation into an organized, stress-free get-together?

Assessing the crowd.

Use the special talents of everyone in the group. Assign jobs to each person according to their experience. (Although there is hardly any experience required for this group project.) In general, patience, organization and the ability to follow directions are the only things you will need.

I would recommend getting together for three sessions in order to complete the bears without stress.

For the first session, divide your group into these 3 categories:

1. BEGINNERS - No experience necessary - just the desire to create, learn and go home with a bear!

2. SEWERS - Some experience sewing on a machine. You will need a couple of people to actually stitch the pieces together on the sewing machine. For anyone who has sewn anything on a machine before, this will be a fairly simple task since everyone else will be cutting and pinning for you! (For 10 people, I would recommend having 2 sewing machines set up and two people to sew.)

3. EXPERIENCED - These people would have experience in one or more of these areas:

Have made a bear or soft doll before.

Have embroidery or hand stitching/sewing experience.

Have followed a commercial pattern before.

Knowledge of pinning parts together.

If anyone in the group has done any of the above, they will be categorized as "Experienced". By the end of the first session, everyone will fit into this category!

FIRST and SECOND SESSIONS

During the first and second session, all the tracing, cutting, pinning and machine sewing will be completed. Get as much done in the first session as you can and finish up with a third get-together. Organize the group and their jobs by their "experience categories" for these first sessions in order to get the most out of your time.

Hereπs what you'll want to accomplish during these first two sessions:

BEGINNERS (or everyone) can trace out the patterns onto the fabric.

BEGINNERS (or everyone) can cut out the peices.

Someone EXPERIENCED should shave the muzzle (if required) and pin the first pieces together. After watching any of these steps done, each member of the group will learn to accomplish each task .

SEWERS can sew the pinned pieces together and pass the sewn pieces back to BEGINNERS to cut the threads, remove the pins and pass the pieces on to the EXPERIENCED members (there should be more EXPERIENCED people now!) to pin the next round and pass them on to the SEWERS to stitch.

The BEGINNERS (or anyone, since there are no true "beginners" left!) can comb the fur from the inner seams and turn the pieces.

THIRD SESSION

The last session will be less structured and everyone will feel more comfortable jumping in where they are needed. All of these next steps can be done by anyone. I would suggest the "EXPERIENCED" demonstrate stuffing the head, attaching the ears and embroidering the nose & mouth. Remember, the head needs to be stuffed a bit more firmly than the rest of the body in order to hold it's shape. The nose should not cave in when you try to embroider it.

Depending on your group, you can either continue all the bears as a group project or complete your individual bears. Continuing as a group does have benefits: there may be a member of the group that is wonderful at embroidering noses, or another that gets the ears even every time. If you utilize the talents of those in the group, youπll all have perfect bears!

Here's what's left to do to complete your bears:

Stuff the heads.

Gather the neck edge and insert joint in head.

Stuff the limbs and insert the joints.

Close the limbs with a ladder stitch.

Joint the limbs and head to the body.

Stuff fhe body.

Close the body with a ladder stitch.

Attach the ears.

Insert the eyes.

Embroider the nose and mouth.

Most of all, relax and have fun with the bears and your friends and family. Make your time work for you so you can enjoy the whole creation process instead of being stressed out to "get it done"!

I hope to have inspired you to call some of those friends you haven't seen in awhile. Get together and combine your creativity! As usual, remember to watch our Weekly Web Special (always on the front page of our web site). Each week there are a variety of different types, lengths and colors in different density furs on sale for 40% off the retail price! It is a great way to try out something new!

Try our ready to make or already pre-sewn kits!

EDINBURGH REGULAR KITS INCLUDE:

pattern with complete instructions.

Mohair (or other plush) fabric

Ultrasuede or felt for paw pads

eyes

mouth/ nose floss

jointing hardware

EDINBURGH PRESEWN KITS INCLUDE:

Pre-sewn mohair bear ≠ ready to turn, stuff and joint.

eyes

mouth/ nose floss

jointing hardware

closing thread/eye floss

OTHER SUPPLIES:

Here is a list of items you will want to have on hand that are not included our kits:

waxed eye floss (EF30spool) for inserting eyes

matching sewing thread Guetermann

Mastex upholstery thread for closing seams and attaching ears.

Assorted needles: 3 inch needle for closing seams and attaching ears. 7 inch needle for inserting eyes. (Recommended: Edinburgh's DN3 & DN7)

Sewing machine

Polyester fiberfill

Ratchet wrench for jointing (Recommended: Edinburgh's RW2)

Straight pins (Recommended: Edinburgh's PINS X-FINE)

Plastic template sheets or cardboard. (Trace paper pattern onto template sheet to preserve the original pattern. Harder edge also makes it easier to trace multiple pieces onto the fabric.

Pet combs for combing fur out of the seams.

Awl for making eye holes and joint holes.

S tuffing sticks or chop sticks